Jesse Webb Johnson's coming-of-age novel began as just a letter

1:21 PM,
May 21, 2013

J. Webb Johnson is Carmel-based author of 'The Nine.'

Written by

Michelle Freed
Star correspondent

Jesse Webb Johnson, 29, was asked to write a letter about what it means to be a man. It would eventually be given to a good friend's son on his 16th birthday. Considering that the boy was only 3 years old, Johnson figured he had plenty of time.

So he began to write. And then he rewrote and revised. And then the paragraphs turned into pages and the pages into chapters, and what started out as a simple document became the author's first full-length novel: a young-adult coming-of-age fantasy, "The Nine." ...